Forbidden
by fawkester
Summary: Percy's voice was grave, "Wrong. Annabeth, the girl on the beach was…" He swallowed, trying to think of an easy way to say what had to be said. Finding none, he steeled his courage and said:   "It was Thalia."
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

Silent waves lapped at the shore of Camp-Half Blood, kissing the toes of two teenagers, lying side by side on the soft sand. They were holding hands, gazing at the stars, content to stay there forever.

The sweet silence was broken when the boy spoke, "Do you think we can pull this off?" He sounded uncertain.

The girl turned on her side and set her chin in her hand, "As long as we love each other, I think we can."

He pondered for a moment, then said, "I love you. Do you still love me?"

She grinned, her eyes lighting up, "What do you think?"

Suddenly, she lunged forward and grabbed his shirt, pulling him in for a kiss. The moon illuminated her face for a single second, before she moved and it was once again shrouded in darkness.

The kissed with their eyes closed, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Even though her face could only bee seen for a second, it was enough for the two others hiding in the bushes to see.

"I knew he was up to something!" Annabeth whispered furiously, sparing a quick glance to the lovers on the beach.

Percy gulped, "Annabeth, it doesn't matter if _he _was up to something. Did you see who he was with?"

She glanced back, frustrated when she couldn't see the faces, "No, but it can't have been that bad, right? He just found some lonely camper. Sure, he could get in trouble, being as he's on probation, but I don't think he'll get in that much trouble, right?"

Percy's voice was grave, "Wrong. Annabeth, the girl on the beach was…" He swallowed, trying to think of an easy way to say what had to be said. Finding none, he steeled his courage and said:

"It was Thalia."


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

_~Gareth~_

I awoke to the bright sun shining in my eyes, my fingers buried in the sand. I turned to see if Thalia was still there, but she had gone. I should've known she wouldn't stick around. I was on probation after all. I was supposed to stay in the Hecate cabin and not talk to any campers, let alone a Hunter of Artemis.

I guess I deserved the probation though. I mean, erasing the memories of your entire school in a small town of Maine _is_ a pretty serious mistake. But what would you do if you accidentally summoned a hydra during an assembly? I don't know what those mortals saw, but it definitely scared their pants off.

I don't exactly remember what happened next, but I'm pretty sure it involved killing the hydra and erasing the memories. The adrenaline basically turned it all into a big blur. Then I was picked up by Chiron and brought to camp early. Hell, I was brought on the second day of class! If that's not early, I don't know what is!

I was then placed in a special room in the back of the Hecate cabin, only to emerge for meals. I didn't get any _real_ training, only watching these stupid videos copyrighted sometime during the 1900s. The only bright side was the Hunters visiting. The day I first saw them talking and laughing at the Artemis table was the best day of my life.

It was lunch, on a particularly hot Sunday, I believe. I was kept separate from everyone else, at a desk in the corner. I bet everyone thought I was some sort of delinquent. It was an accident! Well, sort of…

I'm sure Thalia thought I was some sort of rich boy to have the audacity to approach her when she was coming back from her offering, before Mr. D or Chiron could see me. I thought she was just a regular Hunter, because the silver circlet was hidden under her dark hair.

Her electric blue eyes sparked with a fierce light when I started talking, "Hey," I tried to be casual, but this girl was seriously beautiful. I could only hope she hadn't seen me in my solitary corner, "I'm Gareth."

She glared at me like I was a bug she wanted to squish under her boot, "Well, Gareth, I'm not sure why you're talking to me, but you better go back to your probation table." She laughed raucously, and the Hunters behind her did too.

I blushed involuntarily, muttering "Okay." I wandered back to my table. I tried to concentrate on my food, but my eyes kept flicking back towards the Artemis table. They all glowed with an inhuman light, almost a silver aura, and they were all beautiful, but Thalia was definitely the most beautiful. She just seemed full of life, but also with a sharp side. She looked like she had fought the entire world… and won.

After lunch, everyone went off to their training, while I was stuck in my "room". I knew Chiron didn't want me to be so disconnected, but he knew a punishment needed to be established for such an accident. He kept visiting me, making sure to point out that it was only for two weeks every few minutes. Other than his visits, though, I was alone.

The weirdness started when everyone in the training videos had Thalia's face. I wrote it off as sleep deprivation and tried to take a nap. Staring at the plain, white ceiling, I finally drifted off.

_I was back on the dining pavilion, about to talk to Thalia again. This time, after I spoke, she smiled at me, her blue eyes lighting up with pleasure. _

_"Gareth, you're amazing." She said softly._

_"Do you want to go out with me?" I asked, keeping my cool way better than I could in real life. _

_"I thought you'd never ask!" She squealed and threw her arms around my neck. _

_Then came a blur of scenes, each one more awesome than the next._

_Thalia and I were playing capture the flag, and she let my team win because she loved me that much. Then we were walking on the beach, just talking like old friends. We were laying on the beach, kissing, not caring about anything else. _

_"I'm going for a swim." She said suddenly, then walked into the water. _

_I smiled, content to just watch her for the time being. _

_But then the sweet silence was broken by a scream. _

_She was drowning! My Thalia was drowning! I scrambled around, looking for anything I could do or use to save her. In my panic, I forgot about my powers. I raced out onto the dock, ready to dive in and save her, but my limbs were like lead. I couldn't move. I could only watch her. _

_She started choking as water flooded into her lungs, "Gareth!" She cried, "Why aren't you helping me? I thought you loved me! Gareth!" Then her head went under, and she was gone. _

I awoke in a cold sweat, still grappling for some way to save Thalia. It took me a few minutes to realize that I, in fact, was not on the dock, Thalia was not drowning, and I hadn't actually lived some of the greatest moments of my life.

It was relieving, and also very disappointing. What an odd combination of feelings. I started to take deep breaths and focus on the ceiling, hoping the nightmare would suddenly disappear from my memory.

It was then that Chiron rolled into my room in his motorized wheelchair. "Gareth," He asked, "You look scared, what's wrong?" He looked sincerely concerned.

It pained me to lie to him, but I couldn't tell him about my dream. Demigod dreams usually prophesized something, but this didn't have the feel of a demigod dream. Besides, if he knew I had been dreaming of Thalia, he would know I had broken the rules of my probation to go talk to her. So I lied, "It's nothing, Chiron. Just a bad dream, do you think I could," I paused, trying to find the right words, "Get some fresh air?"

The old centaur took one look at my hopeful face and caved, "Sure. Just don't let Mr. D. see you, or he'll have my hide. Literally." He let out a weak chuckle.

"Thanks Chiron." I said, the relief in my voice real. "It means a lot to me." I immediately jumped out of the bed and headed for the door, ready for a walk through the woods and along the beach.

"Gareth," Chiron set his hand on my shoulder, to stop me from walking away, "Don't you want to put on something over those boxers first?"


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

_~Thalia~_

"Don't. Move." I whispered under my breath, aiming carefully for the buck in the clearing. I was about to let loose the arrow, when a twig cracked and the buck raced off into the woods.

"Gods dammit!" I swore and turned to see who had interrupted my hunt. To my surprise, it was the boy who had approached me at lunch. What was his name? Garth? Gareth? Wasn't he on probation?

He jumped back and put his hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt anything…" He trailed off.

"Aren't you on probation? What are you doing out of your cabin?" My tone was reprimanding, he deserved. Sneaking out of probation, huh.

"Um, Chiron said I could get some fresh air." He sounded nervous. Why? Did he think because I was a Hunter I would kill him or something?

"Okay." I waved my hand in dismissal, "Continue on with your 'fresh air', and stop disrupting my hunt."

"Fine," He grumbled, obviously annoyed by my sudden disinterest in him. He started to stomp away, likely scaring away all animals for miles. There was no virtual point in hunting when he was outside, obviously.

I was still going to try, of course, I needed to avoid him. As I was about to chase in the direction of the buck, I was stopped by a sudden hand on my shoulder. "Do you," Gareth paused, probably finding the courage to talk, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

I groaned, my mouth already forming the word "no". But then my vocal cords betrayed me, and what came out of my mouth was not what I intended to say at all, "Sure. Why not?"

"Great! I was thinking we could go through the woods and then down by the beach later." He looked at me expectantly, "Does that sound good?"

I was still in shock from saying yes, "Okay. It sounds fine."

He started walking in the general direction of the beach and I followed like a dumb dog. Why was I going with him again? Was there something wrong with my brain? Do I have a brain tumor? Oh wait, I'm immortal and such. I don't think it's possible for me to get a brain tumor.

We were walking in silence, until Gareth said, "Do you want to go to the beach after supper? I hear it's beautiful at sunset."

"But you're on probation. It just couldn't work." I made my voice sound regretful, but I was actually happy. Finally, I could get away from this dork!

"I could sneak out."

"No," I insisted, "Don't do that for me. Just stay in your cabin like a good boy."

"Okay." I could tell he wasn't convinced that I was all that worried about him, but he stayed quiet out of common courtesy.

After more than fifteen minutes of silence, we reached the edge of the forest, right as the dinner conch horn went off. "Well, we better get to dinner," I spoke quickly, "I need to go line up my Hunters."

"Oh. Okay. See you…" He grappled for the right word, "Later."

"Yeah, then." Then he wandered off. I smirked in spite of myself, knowing that "later" would mean "never".

I couldn't sleep that night. At all. For some reason, my thoughts kept wandering to Gareth. How his black hair shined almost blue in the sunlight, how his eyes were tawny gold, like a lion's.

I mentally slapped myself. Why the heck are you thinking about him? He's a dork, remember? And anyways, you can't be with boys, it would break your vow to Artemis.

Listening to my inner voice, I stared at the wall and wished for sleep to come. After a few seconds of this, I got bored (there's the ADHD), and checked my watch for maybe the fiftieth time that night.

The glowing numbers read 85:01. Wait, that can't be right. Since when have we had an 85 'o' clock? I flipped the watch over. 10:58. That makes a heck of a lot more sense.

Feeling more bored than ever, I shined the dim light around the room, making sure all my Hunters were asleep. Good, we weren't all insomniacs.

I had just swung the light over the door, when an soft knock came. I swung out of bed, happy for something to do, angry at whoever the heck would be calling this late at night. I pulled open the door to reveal… Gareth. I should've guessed.

"Gareth!" I whispered furiously, "What in Hades are you doing out here? It's nearly 11!"

He grinned, and held up a six pack of Coke, "I brought refreshments for the beach."

I stared at him, "You seriously, _seriously_, expect me to go to the beach with you at 11 'o' clock at night?"

He nodded, "That was the plan."

I was about to slam the door in his face, yelling my refusal, when I remembered that I was going to have a sleepless night anyways. I might as well spend it with someone else, even if that someone was… Gareth.

"One second," I held up a finger, then ducked inside to get a sweatshirt. Right before me eyes left the door, though, I could swear I saw him do a fist pump and mouth, "Yes!"

Gods, Gareth. _Get a life_.


End file.
